Stocking



July 942. E. J. BERGER 2,288,672

\ STOCKING x iled Oct. 12, 1940 s Sheets-Sheetbf J J J J WITNESSES; INVENTOR:

EmiLlBe/"en' ATTORNEYS.

JWZM BY WW .dition'for marketing; I l

FigufZ isa fragmentary view, in side eleva tionfof thefheel portion ofithe stockingdrawn tolawlargeryscale. j j I Fig; E is a fragmentary view showing therear i fieleva'tionof the'stocking he'el.

, Fig; a shows the sole bottom of as it appears on the footfof thel wearerrju v i I 1 the lower ,1} boritionofjthe"flatblanki from which the stock- AsiIIuStratedin' Figf; 1; myimproved rm IIYIZF 1 Ylsirin'rlnr "Hosiery Mills; Pennsylvania. v

to was Lansdale; Page *eorporation" of This invention relates to hos ieryand morees- 1 .l8qwhieh are characterized by segmented lines i pecially to long fashioned hose formed from continuously knit flat profiled blanks with continue ously knit integral legs and feet, such for example as the hosieryfeatured in U. S. Patent My present invention has fortits object to improve hosiery both as regards its general appearance and fit and adaptability, to usage. a I provide hosiery of the kind referred to-in which the fabric is of solid texture'throughout and devoid of puckerlng along or adjacent thelines of the direction of 'itslength, particularly adjacent the heel bottom, aswell as crosswise of the. in step, for capacity to stretch topreclude to'ecramping and to easily yielduas the wearer 's 'foot Risthrustinto the stocking; v I i By the combination o'f means hereinafter 'de- 'scribed,-I,have produced hosiery which I believe. cto be "more perfectly fitted to the human foot J and more perfectly accommodated to agethan'has previously been the case. y a othergob- I .jects and attendant advantages can be readily attained inpractice .willappear froin the follow ing detailed. description of the attached draw 'xings,wherein" 1 view showing myeimprolved stocking in sidetelevation afterboardingfland inythe con human is One way in which the foregoing and Fig.5tis a diagrammatic showing of ing'isformed. .i t Figs; 5 and"? are viewscorrespondingtoFlgs; 2

or obviated throughmy invention.

stocking Ihas a welt to'p in; s fashioned leg n with the customary lines I! and :43 of narrowing marksre-- spectively immediately below the welt andlat the calf fan ankleportion l5;anintegrally formed.

foot-l6 with shaped heel and toe portions I1 and toe lclosure seam. 23. A Thestocking is further No. 2,154,602, granted to mezon April 18, 1939.

l.9f= and Il -22 of; narrowing marks, and. a

characterized by having its heel "l1.- sole flflan'd toe I8 splice reinforcedas indicated by the Wale-Y line shading inthe drawings, the reinforcement being prolonged, as .at 25, up into theankle to form what is ordinarily termed a square French high heelq ,The reinforcement is moreover ex-. tended inwardly to a more or less irregular line,

to produce inthe finished-s stocking a cradle? foot effect. In accordance with my invention, the stocking is form-ed from a continuous1y-knit fiat selvageredged blank by folding the blank on its tion of fashioned hosiery.

i and 3 showingastocking such asffeatured in the patent, supra with; defects which are overcome continued down to the line b b'--b2-b3.'

The stocking blank which is-partly shownin] Fig. 5' can be commercially produced on a suitable flat knitting machine of the Cotton type in the following manner; the leg and ankle portions ll andxli of the blank may be-knitted as ordinarily from a ,single body yarn down to the .line

together constitute the high heel reinforcement 25 of the finished stocking, such knittingbeing At this stage,.the traverse ofthe main yarn carrier is progressively increased outward at a suitable rate with additionof extra fabric loops at or near the seivage edges of the blank down to the line c -"-cf--c 2'c3, while theinward throw of the splicing yarn carriers is simultaneously increased progressively to bring the reinforced areas further toward-the center of the blank. ;In the last described step, lateral transfersmay be made adjacent the web edges after the. manner disclosed in my U. S. Patent #2211315 dated. August 13,

d-'d'.-Q-d2"d3 isreached, whereafter the traverse of the splicing yarn; carriers is maintained unineedles, say every six or eight courses, until the 'line' ee'--e2e3 is reached, the vtransferring occasioning formation of the segments I8, IQ of narrowing lines well inward of the opposite edges of the blank and defining the gussets 28, 28 in alternate courses each time from one Wale to the next with incidental dropping of one loop at each edge of the blank down to the line ff'-f f As a consequence, segmental fashioning lines 28-28 are formed in continuation of the lines l9, l8 at an obtuse angle to the segmental lines I9, l9 defining gussets 29, 29'in which the fabric wales extend on a bias as clearly shown in Figs. 2 and 5. In this connection it isimportant to note that the fashioning lines I9, 20 and I9, 20 are considerably further inward from the selvage edges than is the casein the stocking of Patent #2,l54,602 and in the prior art stocking illus trated in Fig. 6. During the last described phase.

stocking foot down to the line h-hh2-h3- h4h5. However, in the intervalbetween the lines gg'g2g3 and h-h'--h2-h3-h4h5, the inward movement of the two splicing yarn carriers is progressively increased at a varying rate to extend the reinforced areas still further toward the center of the blank in order to strengthen those. portions of the fabric, which, when the stocking is in use, contact the sides of the large toe joints of the wearer. time the line hh'-h2-h3h4h5 is reached, a single splicing yarn carrier only is used in conjunction with the main yarn carrier for the completion of the blank, to reinforce the toe all the way across. During the knitting from the line h-h'h2h3-hlh5 to the line iii2--i3. the traverse of both the main and the splicing yarn carriers is progressively decreased, with attendant transferring of constant equal numbers of edge margin loops inward and with incidental formation of the segmental fashioning lines 2 I, 2 I well inward of the edge segments h, i and n5, :3. Finally,during the knitting of the fabric from the line i-i-i2--i3 to the terminal line 7'7"- 72-7'3, progressively decreasing numbers of heel loops are transferred inward, with attendant formation of the segmental fashioning lines 22, 22' of narrowing in continuation of the lines 2|, 2| to taper the toe tip substantially after the manner disclosed in Patent #2,l42,489 granted to me on January 3, 1939. Furthermore, in accordance with my present invention, the fabric loops in the heel cheek portions l1, H of the blank are graduated, i. c., progressively increased is size in the interval between the lines bb b2-b3, and ff'-f2f3, from the normal at the inner selvage lines of the reinforcement toat a more rapid rate, so that the edge loops at 33 of said squares will be substantially equal in size to those at 34 at the edges of the heel cheeks l1, H. In this way, the heel boundary edges are increased in length with resultant attainment of the desired fullness and the formation of a more perfectly fittingv heel, and with preclusion of objectionable dove tail limit lines such as About the shown at 35 in Figs. 6 and 7 at the top of the high heel reinforcement. Through interposition of the gussets 28, 28 and 25, 29, and through change in the rate of narrowing in the segmental fashioning lines 20, 20 from that followed in the segmental fashioning lines I9, I9, I not only obtain a more correct rounding at the regions of mergence of the heel bottoms with the sole, but determine a relatively sharp bias as between the fabric wales in said region and the connecting wales of the heel cheeks in the regions directly thereabove. This has the advantage of rendering the heel bottom of the finished stocking elastic in the direction of the length of the foot, while still allowing ample elasticity in the fabric crosswise of the instep to counteract the strain induced when the wearer's foot is thrust into the stocking. Referring again to Fig. 5, it is to be particularly observed that by reason of the fashioning at Iii-20 and I9'-28, the portions of each fabric course in the areas 28-29 and 28'--29 instanced by the lines e-e and e2-e3 are in the relation of a flat obtuse angle to the connecting portion of each such course extending across the instep and represented by the line e'--e2. As a consequence, objectionable puckering such as indicated at 36 in the prior art stocking illustrated in Fig. 6 where the portions EE' and E'-E2 of each fabric course at the corresponding regions extend substantially at right angles, are avoided. It is moreover to be observed from Fig. 4 that, due to the liberal width of the heel bottom sections at 28-29 and 28'29 and of the toe bottom sections at 31-31, the fashioning lines Iii-28, I9-28 and 2I-22, 2l'22' are caused to predetermine a foot bottom contour which coincides exactly with the sole area of the wearer's foot when the stocking is in use.

The characterizing features which have been explained mutually contribute toward the provision of a stocking which is not only attractive in appearance by reason of being devoid of any heel fashioning sutures or seams above the shoe top when the stocking is in use, and, which, as a consequence of being an integral structure throughout, can be much more economically manufactured than the usual types of full fashioned hosiery where the leg is knit on one machine and the foot on another, and where an exacting and time-consuming operation is necessary in transferring the leg blank from the legger to the footer.

It must be particularly emphasized that while the fashionings which I employ are in general similar to some which have been used in the prior art, yet their previous employment has not produced a thoroughly satisfactory stocking because the means resorted to for the accomplishment of certain desirable ends have heretofore tended to neutralize each other, advantage gained in one place being counterbalanced by a disadvantage in another place or in another respect. By following the manufacturing directions which I have given in this specification a result is secured in which the desired ends are attained without sacrificing any one to another.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A stocking formed from a continuous fashioned flat knitted salvage-edged blank having a narrowed leg and ankle, and a foot with widened and narrowed heel cheeks, the loops comprising the individual fabric courses of the edge margins of the ankle and of the heel cheeks being graduated in size from a region within the area oi the blank toward the selvages at different rates.

2. A stocking according to claim -1, wherein the loops in the individual'fabric courses respectively of the edge margins of the ankle and of the heel cheeks progressively increase in size toward the selvages. V

3. A stocking formed from a continuous fashioned selvage-edged flat knitted blank having a narrowed leg and ankle, and a foot with widened and narrowed heel cheeks, the loops comprising the individual fabric courses of the edge margins of the ankle and of the heel cheeks being graduated in size from the normal at a region within the area of the blank toward the opposite blank edges at different rates.

4. A stocking according to claim 3, wherein the loops of the individual fabric courses of the edge margins of the angle and of the heel cheeks increase in size toward the blank edges.

5. A stocking according to claim 1, further characterized by having inits foot bottom an integrally knit gusset in which the fabric wales extend on a bias.

6. A stocking according to claim 1, further characterized by having at the juncture between the heel bottom and the foot sole, a'gusset in which the fabric wales extend on a bias.

7. Astocking formed from ,a continuous fashioned flat-knitted selvage-edged blank having a narrowed leg and ankle, a foot with widened and narrowed heel cheek portions, and splice reinforcements extending throughout the heel cheek portions and up into the rear of the ankle region of the stocking, the loops'composing the individual fabric courses or the reinforced heel and high heel portions being graduated in size from a region within the area of a blank toward the opposite blank edges at different rates.

8. A stocking according to claim '1, in which the loops composing the individual fabric courses in the reinforced heel and high heel portions progressively increase in size outwardly from a region within the area of the blank toward the opposite edges of the blank.

9. Astocking according to claim 7, further "knit fashioned selvaged blank having narrowed areas at opposite sides of its foot portion at the junctures of widened and narrowed heel cheeks and the instepportion, each of which areas lies between a segment of the corresponding selvage and a parallel line of fashioning marks, and in each of which the fabric wales are on a bias to said selvage segment and said line of fashioning marks.

12. A stocking formed from a continuously knit fashioned salvaged blank having narrowed areas at the bottoms of its heel portions in which the wales extend in the direction of the length of the foot, and other narrowed sections respectively adjacent the first mentioned sections through which the heel bottoms are merged with the instep, eachof which latter sections lies between a segment of the corresponding selvage and a parallel line of fashioning marks, and in each of which latter sections the wales are on a bias to said selvage segment and said line of fashioning marks.

13. A stocking seamed longitudinally of its-rear and formed from a continuously knit fashioned selvage blank with a narrowed leg and. ankle,

and a foot with widened upper heel portions and with narrowed lower heel portions each of which latter lies between a segment of the corresponding selvage edge of the blank and a parallel line of fashioning marks and in each of which lower heel portions the wales extend on a bias, said foot also having a toe with single line narrowings adjacent opposite edges of the toe tip, the lines of marks resulting from the fashioning of the heel and toe portions defining a sole outline in the finished stocking which corresponds to that of the wearers foot.

mm. J. BERGER. 

